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The Manchester City boss awoke to news of Moyes' stinging attack on the Blues' pursuit of Lescott, who has had a transfer request turned down after bids of £15m and £18m failed to prise him away from Goodison Park.

Lescott was included for the Toffees against Arsenal this evening, which began just after City's 2-0 win at Blackburn.

And Hughes made it clear the 26-year-old remains on his hit-list. "I have said before when a deal has run its course we would be prepared to walk away,'' said Hughes. "At this moment in time, we are still to arrive at that position. Our interest is not finished yet.

"The headlines were quite predictable. I am not surprised David feels a bit aggrieved with the situation, you always are when a big club comes along trying to acquire one of your better players.You never want them to leave but we feel we are doing things the right way and through the proper channels.''

In his withering attack, Moyes suggested instead of a vague reference to the "men who make the decisions at Everton'' Hughes should have phoned the Scot direct.

The argument makes Hughes laugh.

"I could pick up the phone and ring David very easily. I would ask him whether I could have his player, he would say no and I would have to put the telephone down. What would be the point of that?'' he said "The thing is we haven't put this into the public domain. Everton did that on their website.''

The Lescott situation did not prevent City from opening their campaign with a solid victory.

New-boy Emmanuel Adebayor opened City's account after just three minutes. The visitors were forced to survive intense periods of pressure to keep their lead in tact, Shay Given making fine saves to deny Chris Samba and Jason Roberts either side of the interval.

In the end though, the visitors seemed to have their opponents' measure long before Stephen Ireland coolly slotted home a stoppage-time second.

"A lot of people were looking at us to see how it was going to go. It has been a positive afternoon from that point of view,'' said Hughes.

The most notable of Hughes' six summer acquisitions - Carlos Tevez - was only fit enough to come on for the final half hour. By that time, £25m man Adebayor had already made his mark, repaying part of the vast fee that saw him move north from Arsenal.

"It was a great finish,'' said Hughes. "He was excellent today, along with a number of other players. The goal settled him down. He worked hard for his team-mates.''

The result left Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce in frustrated mood given his side had performed so well. "We are disappointed to get nothing out of the game,'' he said. "Shay Given made a number of really top class saves but it wasn't our day.''

Allardyce could not be critical of his side's defending for City's early opener, believing Stephen Warnock's untimely slip had provided the visitors with the opportunity to strike on the break.

And, the Rovers boss had to admit, Adebayor's finish was something special. "City are going to be a danger on the break because of the players they have,'' he said.

"Unfortunately Stephen Warnock lost his footing but still it only created a half-chance for them. But Adebayor's finish was superb. Paul Robinson has only made two saves in the entire game, so defensively we did well. We just couldn't score.''

Rovers now have an unscheduled midweek off due to Fulham's involvement in the Europa League.

They visit Sunderland next Saturday looking for their first points, with Allardyce accepting the gap between the Premier League's rump - and the elite City are intent on joining, is growing ever wider.

"There has never been a level playing field,'' he said. "The big teams have always had more money than the smaller ones. But now the gap is much bigger. You just have to live with it the best way you can.''